Donna Lynn Casey
April 22, 1956 – October 25, 2025
Donna Lynn Casey passed away peacefully on Oct. 25, 2025, surrounded by the love and support of her family. She was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on April 22, 1956, to Gary and Guyneth Casey. She graduated from Hays High School in 1974 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State University in 1978, a Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Arizona State University in 1985, and a Master of Arts degree in education from the University of Colorado in 1991. She was a member of the Tri Delta sorority at Kansas State. She married her husband, Michael Friedman, on July 4, 1987, in Hays, Kansas.
Donna had many loves in her life besides her family and friends, the deepest of which was teaching children. She poured her heart and soul into it for more than 30 years as a third- and fourth-grade teacher, first at Ahlone Elementary School in Palo Alto, California, at Norwood Elementary School in Norwood, Colorado, and for the majority of years at Crest View Elementary in Boulder. She loved her students and made lasting friendships with many of their parents and with fellow teachers. She loved the annual Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and in 1995 began adapting Shakespeare’s plays for her students to perform at the end of each school year. In 1997, she was awarded the Amgen Award for Teacher Excellence.
She loved tennis, pickleball, golf, hiking, biking and anything outdoors. More importantly, she loved the friends she made in each of these activities. The same was true with the many clubs and groups she belonged to. She enjoyed plays and performances at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, the Denver Art Museum and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. And she loved new adventures and travel. She went to many different places with the above groups of friends and also traveled with her husband to numerous countries in Central America, Asia and Europe, and with various friends on trips to Spanish language school in Buenos Aires and to the Galápagos Islands.
She is survived by her loving husband of 38 years, Michael Friedman (Boulder, Colorado); her mother, Guyneth Casey (Tonto Verde, Arizona); her brother, Roger Casey (Becky, Mission Viejo, California); and numerous nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her father, Gary Casey, on Feb. 15, 2025.
A celebration of her life is planned at the Unity Columbine Spiritual Center, 8900 Arapahoe Road in Boulder, on Dec. 6, 2025, starting at 2 p.m.
Donna was the most wonderful daughter that any parent could ever have wished for. I miss her terribly. Even though the miles between Boulder and Tonto Verde, Arizona were many, we were only a text or a phone call away. Mike took such good care of her and we love him dearly. I know that somewhere over that rainbow she and her dad are taking care of each other.